Lost on the Trail of Blue Flames
by Charlesworthy III
Summary: After finally achieving the goal the Elric brothers had been working so hard for, they're dismayed to find they've ended in another world. Can they survive the war and find a way back home? Based on Path of Radiance. Spoilers between FMA and FE.
1. Captured

**A/N:** This is my first cross-over, keep that in mind and please R&R!!! Also, flames will be used for roasting marshmallows.

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Another shaky breath breathed in. Uncharacteristically lacking confidence, Edward Elric stepped back to examine the circle once more.

The circle to get his brother's body back. It was perfect in every aspect; they had made sure of that. Nothing could possibly go wrong—and if it could, Edward wouldn't dare think of it. He looked up to his younger brother, getting stared at from behind a helmet of armor. He had grown so accustomed to seeing Alphonse as an armor body without anything else, how would he act when he was back to normal? No time to think about that. Act, don't think.

"Ready Al?" Edward asked quietly, as if his very voice would rupture the chalk lines and cause error.

"Mm," his brother replied just as softly, with a slight nod. The armor clanged as Alphonse gently stepped over the lines and set himself down in the middle, careful not to smudge any rune.

Edward breathed in once more. He clapped his hands and gently placed them on the chalky outline. A great energy surged through him, and he looked up from the transmutation circle to see Alphonse's armor being broken down and replaced with that same naked boy Edward had seen trapped in the Gate so long ago.

Alphonse's body wasn't the only thing changing, however. Slowly, the dark back round of Winry's basement gained a lighter hue, more ethereal even. Edward swore. They were in the Gate.

He was dreading seeing the Truth again, he hated being looked-down upon. Yet, he wouldn't dare take his hands off the transmutation circle. Alphonse wasn't there completely yet, who knows what repercussions that could have. Yet, Edward's hopes were renewed when he saw the ethereal setting being replaced with a forest-type scene, though that didn't calm his nerves.

The energy surging through the circle died down, and alchemy's signature blinding light faded. The two boys were now standing alone in this forest clearing. Yet this time, out of all the times they stood alone together, Alphonse had his original body back.

Edward had a melancholy smile on his face now; they had finally reached the one thing driving him these past years but Alphonse's body was starved and wild... He was worried how Alphonse was actually holding up.

"Alphonse..." he said quietly. Alphonse stood, a little shaky. Afraid he was going to fall, the elder brother rushed over to support him, taking off his coat in the progress. Edward draped the coat over Alphonse's shoulders. "You alright?"

"Y-yeah," Alphonse replied. Talking had come so easily to him in his armored body but his body's vocal chords were obviously disused, making the word come out raspy and soft. "It's been so long since..."

"Yeah." Edward sighed, taking a glance at their surroundings. "Bet you're starving... But we're gonna have to find where the hell we are before we can even think of getting anything to eat."

Alphonse simply nodded his reply. He _was_ starving. But that was good. He hadn't been hungry in almost five years now and even though he felt horrible at hunger's hand, it felt good at the same time. Edward, on the other hand, was just glad that he brought his brother back to the way he was born, even if Alphonse was still taller than him—he could shout about that later.

The two continued walking through the heavily wooded part of the forest for about fifteen minutes. It felt much longer for the both of them, with Edward concerned for his little brother, and Alphonse finding it hard to stand. Luckily, though, in that time they found something hidden behind a line of bushes.

It appeared to be an archery range of sorts, sitting in the sun and boasting five human-shaped targets. There were five men standing parallel to these targets and one walking around them. They all wore red cloaks, but something seemed more important about the mobile man.

"Show me a _straight _Thunder, now," the man commanded. It was apparent in his voice that he meant business.

The two boys could only watch in amazement as the five men in a line shouted strange words and extended a hand—each one in sync with the next in line. Out of their extended hands, a bolt of lightning shot out and toasted the waiting targets.

"What was that?!" Alphonse asked his brother.

"Wasn't alchemy, that's for sure..." was the quiet reply. Something about the demanding tone of the man convinced Edward it was best to keep quiet.

"Nice magic trick, _Ladies_," the man said, getting dangerously close to a trainee's face. "But a simple Thunder spell won't get you any where on the battlefield. Your enemy has brought out a Wind spell, how will you respond?"

"Magic?!" the two brothers said simultaneously. Their voices were raised from the shock the words brought and right before Edward was going to say how impossible magic was, all the heads in the clearing turned towards them.

"Men!" the obvious commander shouted. "Investigate!"

The 5 men nodded their heads quickly and followed orders. They rushed over to the two boys and when they had tried to escape, threw a few spells into their path.

"Magic doesn't exist!" Edward declared as he watched a lightning bolt strike down the exact spot he was about to step. "This is insane... But if there's magic... There might still be science!"

With a defiant glare to the mages, Edward clapped his hands at the exact moment one of them seized his brother. Instinctively, he turned his arm into its blade form, although he gave up fighting when he saw his brother in a strangling grip.

"Alphonse--!" he said in a defeated tone. While he was staring angrily at his brother's captors, they were staring mesmerized at his arm.

"What sort of magic is _that_?" one asked.

"Maybe the Commander knows," another replied.

"Magic?" Edward scoffed. "This isn't magic. This is your worse nightmare." He smirked, despite the sweat accumulated on his brow and his worries that he would be unable to use alchemy. He watched Alphonse roll his eyes and tried not to take it into account.

Just then, the commander from earlier left his rather impatiently standing to go over to his men to see what the hell was taking so long.

"What the hell is taking so long. Civilians shouldn't pose a threat to you--" His voice fell short when he saw Edward's arm though, especially as it was pointed at him. "Get him!"

Edward watched his vision fade as several different spells were cast on him all at once, sending unbelievable amounts of pain through his frame. Alphonse gasped as his brother fell—never before seeing him so vulnerable. "Let us go!" he shouted. "We don't mean any harm!"

"Take them in, men," the commander ordered, ignoring Alphonse's pleas. "Give 'em some food and stick 'em in a cell some where. We'll interrogate them after supper. Good job out there today."

"Sir!" a mage said, taking the position of a stiff salute.

"Ed..." Alphonse muttered while watching the men handle his brother in such a brutal way. He was pushed himself towards the training ground, and had no other choice but to follow these men. He couldn't fight—not now.


	2. Saving the World Will Have to Wait

**A/N: Since the last chapter was in Ed and Al's situation, this will be strictly the Greil Mercenaries. I had a change of heart between these 2 chapters, so excuse me if something doesn't add up.**

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The last two months were terrible for most of the renowned (and if you were a Daein soldier—infamous) mercenary group.

First, to be stuck on a boat for over a month, some wrestling seasickness. The more nobler members were staring to the north and sighing, hoping that nothing terrible would wrack any villages while they were away. After all, if Daein took care of a problem, it would only make it worse. It was bad enough they were attacked twice and forced to battle on the confined spaces of the deck, but certain feelings seemed to dominate every one of the mercenaries' disposition. When they finally hit Begnion soil, it was no wonder majority of them felt much better, even the few of the more silent members felt great.

Ike, their blue-haired commander, was also relieved when they found the Begnion capital, and the great castle marking the Apostle's home within only a few days of their arrival. He was happy to get his men a nice place to sleep as well—though he hated staying at the castle.

Before long, life grew dull as their employer, Princess Elincia, failed to gain the Apostle Sanaki's favor in a few days and it wasn't before long that Ike's younger sister, Mist, bothered him about being bored. Ike's annoyance increased as he was prompted to look at the flowers—and by 'flowers', Gatrie meant women—mistaken for a servant, and had been yelled at several times by the Bishops for not giving the Apostle the proper respect or some other stupid reason Ike didn't much care about.

It was only a matter of time before he requested some sort of job to do to keep his men busy.

The Empress agreed; having a few tasks that she needed done but couldn't request the army to carry out. She had first sent the group to a misty village hidden in the mountains where a smuggling group was hiding out.

It was hardly a challenge for the Griel Mercenaries, especially after having seen what the Daein army had to bring to battle. Ike decided to only employ a few men into battle because he knew it'd be a breeze. Even with those numbers, they still recruited a new member and were able to warn villagers of oncoming danger, earning some goodies along the way.

Half-way through this cake-walk of a skirmish, the boss of their enemy shouted at some one to 'send in the ferals' and that's when the battle took a turn for the worse. Though only two laguz appeared, they were both Tigers; the stronger of the beast clan, and for some reason neither of them had shifted back into their humanoid form, no matter how many times they were attacked.

At the end of the battle, even though Ike had plenty reason to check the smuggling group's cargo and investigate into the laguz's appearance, he held true to his words to the Empress—if only to gain brownie points in Elincia's favor—and brought them back without so much of a glimpse inside. It was unavoidable that they had heard growling noises and clawing coming from inside, though.

Luckily, they hadn't wasted a week before their next task was prevented to them; and it was a harsh one.

The Empress, having been impressed with their efforts, had sent them to the desert to eliminate a bandit group. The desert sun beat down harsh and it was a long battle—laguz and sand tends to make it tedious—but in turn they carried out the task.

Though, Ike couldn't help but be surprised that the huge Tiger laguz wasn't in charge; but a red-headed, hyper-active youth was in charge. The youth, a mage named Tormod, insisted that they weren't bandits but instead a Laguz Emancipation Army, delivering noble freedom to laguz slaves all over Begnion. When he was brought to the castle, Sanaki wanted a word with him and Ike was surprised that he hadn't been punished... Or yelled at like Ike himself had been.

But now, their current task was above unorganized bands of under-the-radar groups. This time, they had specific orders regarding a certain Bishop and having an illegal slave in his possession. For the most part, the group thought that it'd be reasonably easy. Lucky for them, they remembered their weapons.

They weren't allowed into the villa, the crimson-clad guards in front made sure of that. Ike had asked for audience, just a moment of the Duke's time or just a simple glimpse inside but the soldiers always offered the excuse of 'We're terribly sorry but Duke Tanas is a very busy man.'

Of course, they couldn't go home empty handed, and Ike's go-to tactician, Soren, offered that sneaking in would be a decent strategy—as long as no one was caught. Curiosity piqued; Ike agreed and they were able to find a lower, crumbling wall to scale up. Once inside, they got to work looking around but didn't get too far before they were discovered by Duke Tanas himself; Oliver.

The Griel Mercenaries were thrown into battle once again.

The number of men accompany Ike were small—due to the fact they had wanted to sneak in and out. Absolutely no one on horseback and he wanted to keep his sister out of trouble. Despite this, he was smart enough—or lucky enough, depending on how you look at it—to bring a thief along. And when Sothe managed to make it all the all the way to the farthest room from their position; they also got a new member... Though, every one agreed something about him was a little off...

The corridors were a bit hard to fight through, but the Griel Mercenaries used them to their advantage and managed to get to the commander without too many problems. Ike could speak for any one when he said he had wished the enemy boss was Oliver himself. And after the villa was seized, Ike was cursing about nobles on their way back.

This last mission they were given; to follow Oliver and apprehend him, hadn't even started yet and they were in trouble. A few fights had erupted within the mercenary group, most likely boredom being the cause. Ike only had to walk in a room to see how ill-fit they were to enter battle, and did his best to try to ease the tension. It didn't go too well though, seeing as Soren seemed intent on scolding him for his 'tactical prowess' and 'inability to effectively direct arms to victory' and another phrases with more long words that Ike didn't really want to pay too much attention to. Ike, himself, was rather curious how they would fare, as he attempted to overlook Mia and Stefan fighting over a sword and ascertain where the hell they were in this lifeless forest.

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**A/N: Once again, thanks for reading! Also, please review. I'd love to hear what you think or what pairings you'd like to see, etc. I was thinking of putting in Ike x Soren, and maybe one of the FMA heroes with a side-character from PoR, tell me what you think. I didn't really like this chapter though, so I hope you can put up with it until I get to the next one. Thanks!**


	3. Forced Enrollment

**A/N: Please review guys or at least drop me some sort of message telling me what pairings you would like to see. Thanks for reading, though!**

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"Al... Alphonse?" Edward called into the darkness as he was opening his eyes. He had regained consciousness minutes before, but wasn't sure if his eyes open before because he couldn't see _anything_. "Alphonse!" he called, louder now, sitting up completely.

"Brother..." Alphonse answered. "You're awake?"

"Not sure," was the quiet reply, followed with a sigh as Edward rubbed the back of his head. "It's too dark to see anything..." Edward stirred, trying to stand up. Pain coursed through his body, though, and he decided staying sitting would be much more favorable. Whatever had attacked him before wasn't to be taken lightly. "Do you know where we are?"

Alphonse shook his head, despite him knowing it couldn't be seen. "No... They just threw us in here, gave us some food and told me to shout for them when you woke up. They seemed interested with your alchemy, Ed."

"I'm not surprised," Edward scoffed. "Bet their _magic_ can't do what alchemy can!"

Alphonse sighed, not wanting to expand his brother's already sizable ego. There was a small pause, which Alphonse supposed was Edward running his hand along the wall, seeing if there was any way to successfully transmute it for an escape route. This made Alphonse smile, this sort of behavior was reminiscent of the days when they were looking for the Philosopher's stone.

Edward's voice broke the silence, "Did you eat?"

"Huh?" Alphonse asked, his brother's words coming so suddenly that Alphonse had forgotten to pay attention. Edward didn't reply though, but Alphonse soon understood what he meant. "Yeah... I was so starving I... Kind of ate your share too."

"Alphonse!" Edward shouted. "I'm hungry too!"

"Sorry," Alphonse said, between stifled laughter. Edward sighed. "Do you think you can break through it?" Alphonse asked as last, excited to break out of this dark place.

"Of course. Crappy architecture if I say so myself," Edward replied. "Pf, honestly where are we the dark ages?" He was pleased that his joke had made his younger brother laugh and clapped his hands together. "Just some limestone from what I can see, not carved very well... Probably only used to keep things in... Good thing they never calculated an alchemist as prisoner in their design plans." Edward pressed his palms to the floor as he spoke—too banged up to shift his position—which generated a bright light, illuminating the dark room for only a few moments. The wall Edward had been leaning on fell into the ground and surround walls, opening an archway that was a few inches taller than Edward himself.

Alphonse stood up, hugging Edward's jacket to his body. He noticed that his brother winced as he rose and couldn't help but ask, "Are you okay? Those people did something to you... Does it still hurt?"

Edward stayed silent, and pulled himself up using the indents in the brickwork as support. He looked at Alphonse and turned away before answering.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," he said. With that, Edward stepped through the archway, brother in tow, and peered out into the room. Their cell seemed to be one of many, and luckily theirs was at the end of the hall. "C'mon let's go this way..."

"Is this the right way out of this prison block?" Alphonse asked, not expecting an answer, but feeling the question needed to be voiced.

"Hell if I know but it's either this way or that way and this way is closest," Edward stated, not saying it out of the pain wracking his body but out of sheer convenience. He stepped into the hallway carefully, not wanting to alarm any one of their escapade. It was now that he realized his arm was still in blade form. Saying nothing, he simply thought to himself that they obviously knew nothing of alchemy, especially due to the burn marks littering it. _Heh,_ Edward thought, _must've tried to unarm me. What idiots!_

Alphonse followed his brother nervously, a little shaky from everything that took place and worried how they'd go about sneaking around without getting caught. He'd occasionally have to quicken his pace, after staring, intrigued, at the building surrounding him. _It looks like some sort of castle from a fairy tale_, he concluded, once again rushing to catch up to Edward. The two continued in this manner, until the elder sibling stopped at the entry way to a room with Alphonse accidentally running into him.

Edward made a hushing sound at his brother, and peeked into the room. It was eerily quiet for what it appeared to be. Men were sitting at tables, each gobbling down food as fast as they could. Another man, dressed more official and the only one wearing different garb, headed the table and was eating slower. Edward's military experience told him right away what was going on here, and could understand how quiet it was. He was pushed out of the way by his brother, however, and Alphonse got his chance to see what was going on. Edward had almost fell to the ground, but caught himself on the wall with his metal arm, making a soft clang as it hit the stone.

It seemed like all at once, heads turned towards Edward and Alphonse. Scattered voices erupted from the table, their owners momentarily forgetting about eating.

"It's those boys from before!"

"How did they get out?"

"That shorter one has some sort of crazy magic!"

"Crazy magic? Wasn't he calling it science?"

"Hah what a stupid pipsqueak! Science can't do THAT!"

Edward was about to snap. Pipsqueak? Short? Mocking alchemy? Such things were blasphemous to Ed's ears. And he wasn't going to have it.

"**What you just call me?"** he fumed, while clapping his hands and preparing to transform his arm into a much sharper edge. **"Who you callin' a mini idiot that can't even be seen with a microscope? Who's the dwarf so small the sun don't hit him? HUH? WHO'S SMALL?"**

Almost immediately, Alphonse grabbed his brother's shoulders after his arm-blade had been turned into a much more menacing form. At the same moment, the commander of the bunch stood from the table and strode over to where the two boys were standing. He loomed over the siblings, with a stern look on his face. Alphonse's face told the man he had one boy frightened, but Edward refused to yield and instead growled at the man.

"It would be smart if you would calm down," the man growled back, returning Edward's glare with the same intensity. The alchemist didn't back down, but felt he couldn't do much with his brother's hand on his shoulder.

Since the man was now close up, the siblings got a much better look at him. He had purple hair, with a receding hairline, brushed over to hide the fact. His face was square but with small features and it was wearing dark yellow robes. His breath stank, and Edward wished that the man didn't insist on getting so close.

The man turned to his subordinates, which lined up and saluted as fast as humanly possible. "Men," he said, "it's time for questioning." The men put their raised hands back at their sides and parted as the man roughly grabbed Alphonse and Edward before shoving them over to the table. Two men grabbed a chair each, and set one down for the brothers to sit in. They were pushed into their seats, almost falling off the chairs, before the man seemed pleased. The commander held his arms behind his back and started pacing back and forth, thinking up questions.

Alphonse sat nervously, looking at the floor, feeling like he had gotten in trouble for something he hadn't done, while his brother was the epitome of pissed off. The man pacing back and forth was obviously taking too long thinking up a proper question or just trying to intimidate the two, because Edward took it upon himself to break the silence.

"I'm Edward Elric and this is my brother Alphonse, thanks for asking," he said, figuring that the man didn't care about their names and hoping to be able to get under his skin.

"Don't speak unless spoken to," was the gruff reply, being spat out quickly. The men standing off to the side flinched more than Edward had. Alphonse thought it best to keep quiet, while Edward just blinked. This was invitation enough to start asking questions.

"Where did you come from?"

"Amestris. You've probably never heard of it, cuz we came through the Gate," Edward replied. The man took no heed of his answer, other than taking the liberty of asking another.

"Why is your arm iron?" was the second question.

"Cuz I lost my other one. Is that so hard to understand?" Edward rolled his eyes.

"What sort of magic gives you a metal arm?" The tone in the man's voice told Edward he was getting excited.

"Magic?" Edward scoffed. He was about to continue, but Alphonse spoke up in hopes of getting his brother out of trouble.

"It's auto-mail, sir. Prosthetic limbs made of steel," Alphonse said quietly. This time, it was the older brother that had nothing to say.

"Heh, I like the manners of this one. The older one, I take it?" The word 'older' was empathized with a belittling look to Edward. Edward wasn't belittled in the least.

"_I'm_ the older brother!" he shouted. The look on their questioner's face told the boys he didn't believe this in the slightest.

"Any way," the man continued, "how did you stretch it out like that? What sort of magic _is_ that?"

"It's _science_," was the reply, spoken as if being explained to a five year old. "Magic doesn't exist!"

The man just started laughing. It was a little unnerving how randomly laughter had struck him. The boys looked at each other, hoping the other would have the answer. "Goddess are you stupid! Pray tell, where is this 'Amestris'? Under a rock somewhere? Beneath the ocean? Magic doesn't exist! I haven't heard something that dim-witted since I heard the sub-humans were trying to make peace with Crimeans!"

If the laughing hadn't already confused the young alchemists, the man's words did. Still, confusion was one of the many things that got on Edward's nerves, and he didn't hesitate to voice his irritation.

"Then how can you not know what alchemy is!" he shouted, rising from his chair. Alphonse followed suit, ready to grab his brother's arm. "What the hell are you talking about? Sub-humans, Crymans or whatever! Now tell us what's going on here!"

"Alchemy...?" the man wondered out loud, choosing to ignore Edward's questions. He walked off to the side, trying to put everything together. It was then that one of his men walked up to him.

"Sir! There's a messenger here! He speaks of your moving back home to Daein to defend the Crimean Army's eminent attack!"

With a nod of the head from his superior, the man ran off and returned shortly with a boy in tow. "Here he is sir," the man said before stepping back into the group of men that sorely wished they could finish their dinners.

The young boy stepped up to the commander slowly, his hands shaking as he handed over a letter. He made a few glances to the Elric brothers but rushed off before he had gotten the opportunity to be questioned or yelled at or apprehended by the letter's recipient.

A moment later, after the letter had been read and discarded onto the floor, the man looked at Edward with a devilish fervor lighting his small eyes. "Men," he directed. "Grab the elder one."

To Edward's dismay, he was not considered the elder one, and instead started lashing his sword arm at any one coming close to Alphonse. "Leave my younger brother alone!" he shouted. "He didn't do anything! _We_ didn't do anything!" Despite his efforts, a few mages had sneaked behind him and grabbed Alphonse.

The commander laughed and shook his head. "You've got some fight in you. Good," he said. "Your brother's obviously too week to fight so we'll get him better. He'll be joining you on the battlefield shortly. Until then, we're going back to Daein and getting out of this accursed Crimean fort. If you want your brother unharmed, you'll know what's good for him."

Just then, one of the mages that held Alphonse grabbed a knife from a pouch on his belt and held it to the younger Elric's neck.

"Alphonse!" Once more, Edward couldn't force himself to fight with Alphonse in danger. He sighed before turning back to the commander with a glare. "Let my brother go. I'll do anything, I don't want to lose him again."

At this, the man smiled slyly. "You're coming with me to Daein and fighting, or your brother won't survive the night. My name is Kayachey and I'll be ordering you in battle. If you simply talk back to me I will order your brother's execution. Understood?"

Edward's silence was enough of an answer to this question. The man called Kayachey ordered his subordinates to take Alphonse away and feed him some more, that they might have use of him in battle as well. Edward averted his eyes to the floor and clenched his fists. These men would pay, he'd make sure of that all too soon...


	4. Ike has had it up to Here

**A/N: I'm on a roll, aren't I? XD Well, I'd like to say this this will be the last time with alternating chapters and that I'm thankful I won't feel weird writing this FE part, when the script's already been written. I know this is nothing like how it goes in the game, but I'm doing that to change it a little bit and make it more interesting. Almost an AU or parallel world, if you will. Thanks for reading!**

It was strange how a reserved man like Ike, who never spoke unless he thought it necessary, could speak such uplifting words in a moment's notice.

The Griel mercenaries had just finished their third battle in the forgotten Serenes forest. It was probably one of their hardest yet, with their commander's fighting prowess greatly decreased from he unconscious Heron girl he held on his back. Some how they had survived without a single casualty, though Rhys, their redheaded healer, certainly had his work cut out for him. Now, they had Oliver cornered without a chance of escape and things were looking up even if everyone was wearing down.

Luckily, as the fighting continued, the bickering died down and Ike was pleased when he noticed a huge improvement in behavior. Now that they had gotten to the final battle, everyone was almost selfless in their teamwork, knowing the more they worked together, the quicker this would all be over. And everyone only felt better as Ike belted words of encouragement to the group, and congratulations on making it this far.

"Let's finish this battle," Ike shouted, "and earn the Princess the army she deserves!" At these words, the small group erupted with cheer, though Ike noted how tired it sounded. It was okay though, reinforcements were on the way.

It hadn't been an hour until the mercenaries had made it halfway to Oliver's position when the battle had been made thankfully easier.

Soren had spotted four members of the bird tribe observing the battle, who joined the fray upon seeing the heron on Ike's back. They were frightening in their strength and speed, wiping out every Begnion soldier on the field before anyone could make it to Oliver, themselves.

The battle ended in a flurry, with Oliver's blood staining the forest floor and those left of his men, running into the dense lifeless forest. It seemed every one taking part in the battle breath a simultaneous sigh of relief after it was over. The woman Ike had been carrying for the duration of it, had also woken up.

It turned out that she was the sister of the (supposedly) last Heron, Reyson. The two siblings couldn't be happier that there was another, and decided to put on a little performance. They stood on a large alter, facing each other. Leanne started singing an ancient song.

"Seid magic..." Soren started, standing close to Ike. "It's the Galldr..."

"Heron magic?" Ike asked. Soren stayed quiet.

It seemed the melody that was erupted from the Heron siblings put a quiet hush over every one in the forest. They all stood in awe, watching the two laguz using ancient forgotten magics to restore the beauty to the forest. It was amazing. Though, as long as it seemed, it didn't last and the two turned to face forest—and everyone in it—seemingly refreshed and full of renewed life. 

* * *

"Sir Ike, I must..." Princess Elincia, the green haired heir to the Crimean throne spoke softly, her hands folded across each other neatly.

Ike simply sighed. There was no way anyone else could command an army, especially no one from Begnion, and most of the soldiers wouldn't think twice about listening to a commoner giving them orders! He was trapped. "There's no way I can avoid this, can I?" he asked, despite knowing the answer already.

"I apologize," Elincia said, her voice always seeming to be full of a silent sadness. "If you truly do not wish to go trough with this, I will not force you." She averted her eyes to the floor.

Ike stayed quiet for a moment, and looked into the woman's eyes. They always looked so sad, and much older than they should. After everything Elincias seen, it was no wonder. Still, Ike felt a strange attraction to those eyes and succumbed to them.

"Alright fine," he said, scratching the back of his head. "What do I have to do, put on a funny hat or something?"

Elincia raised her head and had the slightest trace of a smile on her lips. "Actually... May I borrow your sword?"

Ike nodded and with a look of confusion, handed the orange-clad princess his blade. She took it with the same smile on her lips before speaking again.

"Now, please kneel..." The noblewoman took a deep breath in, as if it were harder for her than him. Silence hung in the air as she gently brought down the blade to Ike's left shoulder. "In the name of House Crimea," she said before pausing to exhale. Sanaki, who was the one to suggest this event after declaring she'd provide her aid to the wayward princess, noticed that the woman was shaking slightly. She smiled softly at this fact, but didn't find need to ever mention it.

"I hereby grant you the title and rank of Lord," Elincia continued as she moved the sword from Ike's left shoulder to the right, "and all the honors it conveys." She once again paused, and removed the sword from his shoulder. She seemed to not know how to hold it, so she placed the tip on the ground and rested her hands on the end of the hilt. "Rise, Lord Ike..."

Ike did as commanded, and stood. He stared Elincia directly in the eye, but despite his new title, it wasn't any different from earlier. He had a sort of melancholy look on his face. Sanaki assumed he had expected something more.

"I-It is done, Sir Ike," Elincia stuttered. She handed his sword back to him gently, her hands lingering on his for a moment longer. "How do you... How do you feel?"

"It's a little strange," Ike admitted. "I don't feel much different."

Elincia giggled. She then looked up to him with the eyes of a child's. "You're not... Mad at me, are you?"

"It's not your fault..." Ike replied quickly. "If I were to be mad at any one it would be the soldiers who won't take orders from a commoner... Or-or the Empress who wouldn't hand her troops over to a band of mercenaries. Maybe-"

The Empress cleared her throat and walked over to the two. She looked at Elincia, before directing a sort of glare to Ike. "My aid is yours in the war, Sir Ike," she stated. The last two words were spoken with a smirk. Even if she was the Empress, she wasn't yet 13 and she enjoyed making people a little angry. "I suppose you'll be leaving first thing in the morning to invade Daein."

Ike opened his mouth to agree was but soon cut off.

"I give you my blessings and the Goddess's," she said, before turning away and walking off to some place in the castle. Ike and Elincia were left to just stare at each other for a few moments. Elincia blushed and turned away after a moment, though.

"I-I will see you in the morning, Sir Ike."

"Please, just Ike, Princess... Even before I was a noble you've been calling me that and I still don't think you should," Ike said with a sigh.

"Of course, Sir... Of course, Ike." The woman paused once more and looked into the man's eyes. "I-Ike... Good night."

* * *

The next three days were mostly uneventful for the Crimean Army. Their numbers, having been bolstered greatly by Sanaki's aid, were certainly nothing to laugh at but unfortunately slowed the party down. By now—had they just been a handful of mercenaries—they would've been inside Daein's border and resting until their first battle. However, they were just nearing the border now.

Ike, who was walking ahead of his new army, mumbled how impractical the weight of this many people could be. His confidant, Soren, had agreed to everything Ike had said thus far, and had been walking quickly to keep up with the new general.

The boy pushed a lock of black hair from obscuring his pale face in the small silence that continued. His red eyes looked up to Ike and then to the ground. He wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. Finally, he decided to ask what he probably should've before.

"So," Soren started, not looking at Ike as he spoke, "You're a noble now, aren't you?"

Ike simply nodded with a "Mmhm..." pinned on at the end.

Soren smiled slightly. "You're not any more well-mannered, though," he said quietly. Ike stayed quiet. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way..."

Ike looked down to Soren. "What did you say?"

A head shaken was the only response Ike received. "Forget it," Soren replied. "You're tired aren't you? Your eye is twitching again."

"Yeah..." Ike replied. "I'm sorry, I haven't been sleeping well... We should be in Daein right now."

Soren smiled. There was a short silence, in which he made a strange noise. Ike supposed he had swallowed a bug of some sort, when in actuality it was him suppressing a giggle. The general's blue eyes peered over to his tactician questioningly, curious to what he was doing but knowing it was best to not bring it up.

"It's strange having much more to look after, isn't it?" Soren asked. He didn't wait for an answer. "Well, Ike I just wanted to tell you that once we arrive in Daein the first place we'll have to capture is Fort Tor Garen."

Ike moaned, too tired to want to try to remember another one of Soren's lectures. Thankfully, he wasn't heard, and Soren continued to ramble. Ike knew the tactician always got cranky if he couldn't speak his battle plans days before the actual battle, and thought it best for the mage to continue.

"Now, I must emphasize that Tor Garen is infamous for being impenetrable and has never once been taken by enemies," Soren continued. "I don't have any maps of the fort, for obvious reasons, but I can tell you the best strategy would be to use the confined space to our advantage. Also, do you recall what had happened as we were traversing the seas to Begnion? The Kilvas Ravens had joined sides with the Daein army. I have taken into account how to skillfully take them down. We'll need to employ Rolf and Astrid into battle." Soren stopped, and took a breath in.

In this moment, Mist had ridden up to her brother on her horse. Ike noted that ever since Mist had started fighting from horseback, she made a point to show off her dirt-colored horse to every one.

"I need also point out-"

"Ike! Brother! I'm so bored!" Mist exclaimed, cutting Soren off and gaining herself a burning glare. Mist returned it with her soft blue eyes turning stone cold.

Ike sighed. He was too tired to deal with this. "Mist..." he started. The general paused, gathering thoughts on how to get both to leave him alone. Then it hit him. "Soren, I'm sure you made plans of sending Mist into battle, didn't you?"

"Ike I have never thought of sending her into the fray due to her lack of skill with the sword... Rhys surely can handle all wounds, can he not?"

"Soren have you taken into account that we may send our men into two different directions. If that were the case, we'd need a healer to accompany _both_ groups, isn't that right?" Ike smirked to himself. He turned to his sister, and saw that his words were going over her head. Luckily though, she seemed eager to fight alongside her sibling.

"Well, of course, but-"

This time it was Ike doing the interrupting. "Then am I correct in assuming you were planning on filling _all_ units that are going to fight in on your strategy?"

Soren nodded, but when he looked to Mist he did he best to hid the disgusted scowl spreading upon his face. He hated most people, but Mist was certainly one of his least favorites.

"I suppose you're right..." Soren said, defeated. Ike slowed his pace a little, letting the two get ahead of him. He smiled a sly grin as Soren started explaining everything to Mist. He was speaking as if the brunette was four years old, and talking slowly so she wouldn't get lost. Mist, in turn, shot several glares at her older brother, before trying to think of a way of worming out of Soren's lecture.


	5. Ed's Still Pissed

**AN: At almost 3,000 words this is my longest chapter yet! I'd like to hear if you prefer longer chapters with more line breaks or shorter ones and hop around views from chapter to chapter. I also apologize for this taking so long to upload. A bit of writer's block struck, y'see.**

* * *

"Ike! Lor... Ike!"

"Hm?" Ike looked over to a woman in a flowing green dress running up to him. None other than Princess Elincia. And though he was in the middle of a strategy briefing with Soren, Ike was more than eager to focus his attention on the green haired noblewoman.

"Oh, excuse me, I didn't mean to interrupt anything, Ike. Soran, wasn't it?" she said, immediately returning to her normally timid persona around the tactician.

"So**ren**," the tactician corrected with a stern tone, emphasizing the second syllable of his name. "Princess Elincia, can it not wait? Ike and myself were just in the middle of discussing-"

"Soren, please," Ike interrupted, taking a step towards the princess of Crimea. "Shouldn't you discuss your plans with the other people fighting in battle?"

Soren paused, giving Elincia a cold glare before taking a step back. "I beg your leave. I'll be back after I've finished," he said, ignoring the fact that he had told every one else about the best way to take Tor Garen earlier that day. He decided to himself that he would stay within earshot, however, and made sure that as he left he didn't stray too far from Ike and Elincia.

"I'm sorry my Lord but..." Elincia turned her gaze to the ground, which was now starting to be blanketed in a soft layer of snow.

"What did I tell you about this 'Lord' and 'Sir' business?" Ike asked with a small smile.

"My apologies, S—Ike," Elincia responded. She looked up and into Ike's eyes. "I simply wanted to ask you to be careful and wish you the best of luck in your oncoming battle."

Ike smile increased, if only barely. "Don't worry about it, Princess," he replied in a light tone. "I can't lose my first battle as a snooty noble, can I?"

"No, I suppose not..."

"Then you can't expect me to lose."

"Yes, my lo... Yes, Ike. But please, do be careful."

Ike only responded by giving her a bona fide smile, this time. Elincia returned it with a smile of hers, before walking off back to the convoy and leaving Ike to himself.

He scanned his surrounds. It was rather early in the morning, judging by the sun's height in the sky. Their next battle, and their first on Daein soil, would start in only moments. The brick walls of Tor Garen loomed over the small band of soldiers Ike had chosen for this mission, and gave him no reason to question why the fort had never been taken before.

_But_, Ike thought, _there's a first time for everything._

That moment, Soren walked back over to Ike.

"As I was saying, Ike, this battle will be unbelievably easy with the help from the hawks and Reyson. Though, I do implore you to keep them farther back, because the commander in charge of here is an expert with long-range wind magic," he started, talking as if he didn't need to breathe.

"Understood," was all that Ike could add in.

"Now I have a feeling that we may run into some one here that we can possibly recruit so I think we should-"

Soren was cut off by another, distant voice, that ripped through the cold air like a sword.

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME, BALDY?"

Edward Elric was certainly not in a good mood, and being called names didn't help it in the slightest.

"CALL ME SHRIMP, DWARF, SHORTY, MIDGET, GO AHEAD I DARE YOU!" he continued, changing his right arm into a blade and charging at Kayachey, the man who he was supposed to be taking orders from.

"Shut up, whelp!" Kayachey replied, back-handing Edward in the face when he got too close. "You better believe that your behavior here will affect how well your brother is treated! If I were you, I wouldn't be so stupid!"

"If you hurt him...!" Edward started, but gave up. The alchemist gave the commander a glare, and showed his sword-arm to him in warning, but couldn't do more than walk off. He turned his arm back to normal and stared around at the walls surrounding him, wondering how the hell to get out of this shitty situation he had gotten him and his brother into.

"Sir! Excuse me, but what is wrong with that recruit?" a soldier asked Kayachey. He was the same one before with a recruit of his own to keep on a leash. Luckily that red-headed archer hadn't been as nearly as much trouble as that blonde boy.

"Don't worry about him, he wouldn't dare turn on us. We've got his brother hostage, that's all. If you could keep him under check as well as that dog of yours, then we'll have no problems."

"Yessir!" the soldier replied with a salute before returning to his post.

Edward walked over to a nearby wall after pacing back and forth several times, and pounded his metal hand into a wall. "What the hell is going on?" he asked himself. Just one of the thousands of questions floating around in his head, left unanswered.

"It's war, dumbass. Start acting like a soldier or you're gonna get killed. Right now you're nothing but a dog of Daein and you'll stay that way if you don't listen to your commander."

It was a little weird for some one to be answering Edward's rhetorical question, but the teenager took the bait any way. "And what makes you so smart?" he asked, looking over to an archer who was tying his hair back into a ponytail. Ed resisted the urge to call him 'Colonel Bastard' from the tone of voice the man was speaking in.

Edward was given no reply, and watched with disinterest as the man started giving his bow more attention than the young alchemist, which only put Edward in a worse mood. He could tell he wouldn't get any more answers than he was already given, however, and decided to leave the conversation where it ended.

* * *

The ensuing battle had begun quicker than Edward could have imagined.

"This is war," he said plainly. "I never expected I'd end up in one of these." He gave a sigh.

The fort was built in a peculiar way. It was open at the top, but the walls were too high for flying units to scale. It was really more or less a tunnel, with only two entrances. One, which our heroes from Crimea used to invade, opened into a hallway. The whole fort—save one room—was a huge hallway that twisted and turned to make it easy to surprise invaders.

Edward was currently positioned in a more open section of this hallway, and staring at the direction his 'enemy' was coming from. Each sound that reached his ears from that direction unnerved him. Whether it was a battle cry or a scream of pain, these were the definite sounds of war. And Edward did not like that.

Almost as quickly as the fighting had began, all the sounds stopped. Every soldier standing on the Daein side of the conflict tensed, including Ed. Only a few voices could be heard, and even then not very well.

"Sothe, get the chest! Soren, Mia, you two go up ahead. I know the enemy hasn't a chance of hitting you two."

"Okey-dokey, boss!"

"I'll be right behind you two. Rhys! Make sure everyone's alright."

Though none of these words were threatening, persay, everything about this battle was unnerving. Edward's stomach was doing flips.

"Here they come!" a nearby soldier announced, raising his weapon and biting his lip. Footsteps drew closer to their position, and soon two opposing units were seen clearly. 

Edward knew this was war. He knew he was expected to kill those two soldiers. What he didn't know, is what they looked like. He certainly wasn't expecting a purple haired girl in orange with a dark-haired, ebon-clad companion. From what he had seen, he was trapped in some sort of Dark Ages fantasy tale, like something his mother would read to him and his brother when they were younger. If that were to be true, why were there women on the battle field? In all the stories he had heard, they had waited at home for their knight in shining armor... This only made him more confused about what was going on, and pissed Edward off even more.

"Ike!" one of the girls called in a rather masculine voice. "Shinon's here!"

"Shinon?" Ed questioned. The man standing next to him smacked his forehead. _So apparently they somehow know each other,_ Edward inferred. _Great. This makes less sense than it did when we got here!_

More footsteps started running towards the two, and soon a blue haired man was standing next to them. He looked down to the black-haired girl (or was it a boy? Ed couldn't tell) with a slight expression of surprise before looking over to Ed and the red haired man.

"Shinon!" he said, shock definite in his voice. "What... Why are you fighting for Daein?"

Shinon scoffed in answer, and every one in the immediate vicinity looked over to him. "Y'see Ike, I wasn't gonna get any where with that mercenary band. At least here, I can-"

"Uncle Shinon!" Another voice ripped through the air. Edward sighed. Just how many people were going to join this conversation any way? "Uncle Shinon!"the voice repeated, until its owner was in plain sight. Its owner, a short, green haired boy with big blue eyes, then ran over to Shinon and gave him a hug. "Uncle Shinon why did you leave? Why are you fighting for Daein?"

"Rolf... Did you remember to keep our secret?" Shinon asked, a small smile playing on his face.

"Mmhm!" Rolf nodded. He started to continue talking to the man about all sorts of endeavors with the bow but Edward stopped listening at this point. It wasn't anything he needed to hear any way. Instead, he walked over to the one who he assumed was 'Ike'.

"You're the commander these guys are supposed to kill?" he asked. Ed preferred not to associate himself with these soldiers he was standing in the midst of. "You're the... Crymans or something?"

"Crimeans," Ike corrected. He got a rather confused look on his face but assumed Ed had just a slip of the tongue and couldn't remember the name of the nation. "You don't seem like you're too intent on fighting me," he admitted.

"I'm not," Edward replied.

"Are you... being forced to fight us?" Ike asked. Edward didn't get a chance to answer.

"Hey blondie!" a nearby soldier shouted at Ed. "That's the man you're supposed to kill! Are you stupid? Kayachey told me to keep you in line, do you wanna ruin it for both of us?"

Edward growled. He was screaming in his mind in anger but didn't bother vocalizing those thoughts. He gritted his teeth.

"Not only that, you'll ruin it for that brother of yours!"

This got on his last nerve. He looked to the soldier before turning back to Ike. "I'm sorry," he said. Edward clapped his hands and turned his metal arm into a sword. He lunged forth, trying to slice Ike's chest. Ike blocked this swing easily with his blade.

"I understand," Ike said. "But I can help you get your brother back."

"How the hell can you do that?" Edward demanded. He drew back his arm and went in for a stab, but he wasn't fighting to his full potential. "All I want you to do is to give those bastards a distraction!"

Ike wasn't expecting Ed's next move and got cut on the arm. "You're not that bad of a fighter... If you were with us, I promise that we could find your brother faster than just you alone." He swung his sword, hitting Edward in the shoulder. He didn't expect that swing to knock the blonde over, but took what he was given and walked over to the alchemist. "What do you say?"

"Pretend I'm dead," Ed whispered through clenched teeth. "Say you've killed me and let me escape." He glared at Ike from his position on the ground. It wasn't very threatening, but Ike nodded and turned to Soren, who was just staring at Ed's metal arm.

As much as the tactician wanted to ask Edward what sort of magic he was using and if he could teach him, he found it to be better suited for the battle if he left the boy alone, and pretended as if he were another soldier that had been cut down. Mia lingered over him and smiled as if they had been long-time friends. "I hope you find your brother," she had whispered before following the others.

A few more people had come down the hallway and saw Edward, but they arrived after the Daeins around him—Shinon included—had been defeated, and a few got to witness first hand alchemy opening a huge hole in the fort wall. The alchemist stepped through it and closed it up quickly and efficiently.

Now that he was free from those Dayans or whatever they were called, he was all set to look for his brother. Edward put his hands on his hips and surveyed the place around him. There were quite a few trees and it sounded like fighting nearby but he was sure he was perfectly safe now. He rushed out of the thicket to a clearing, where he could see the entrance of the fort.

A woman was standing there, looking around with shifty eyes, her hood pulled close over her face. It seemed she was debating going inside. Either way, she noticed Edward almost immediately and rushed over to him, thinking he was a wayward soldier.

"Excuse me!" she called, her voice dripping with feigned innocence. "Excuse me, do you know if they're finished fighting?" She ran up to Edward as she spoke and looked a little dismayed to see that he was shorter than her.

"Don't know, don't care, lady," the alchemist replied harshly. He glared up at her before manuvering around her and starting to walk away.

"Hey wait!" she called after him, and soon caught up. The woman grabbed his right arm. "Do you know if my Ikey-poo is okay? I'm oh-so worried for him! He could've gotten ripped to shreds by those harsh attacks!" She placed her other hand on her forehead in a melodramatic manner. "I thought I might sneak out and observe the fighting but I'm too afraid to go in."

Ed pulled his arm away. "Why the hell are you telling me this?"

The woman shut her eyes in a dramatic fashion. "I just hoped..." She paused to fake a sniffle. "I just hoped a gentleman such as yourself would try to ease my nerves."

Edward stared at her for a moment with a raised eyebrow and a scowl. He once again started to walk off with no firm destination in mind other than 'the hell away from this lady'. Said lady, however, seemed to be more persistent that Winry begging for a trip to Rush Valley.

"What sort of man are you?" she huffed, stomping after him. "I mean, you've got the sword, you've got the looks and the hair. But why aren't you begging for me to kiss you? Why aren't you at least acknowledging my existence?" Edward couldn't help but smirk. Those sorts of hollow threats were easy to ignore, especially coming from a complete stranger. The next time she spoke, it hit a nerve for sure. "I was gonna give you a chance because I normally don't fall for men so small but-"

"Who's small?" Edward whispered. His voice was quavering with anger and he had a crazed look in his eye, which he shot directly at the woman. "What did you call me...?"

"Oh so _now_ you decide to answer me!" She returned a cold look to Edward, but was a little unnerved when he didn't waver in the slightest. "Yeah so I called you short, big deal. You're cute though, I'll give you that."

Edward was about to spazz but blushed and hid his face upon being called 'cute'. It wasn't that he wanted to be 'cute'. It was just a little weird having this sort of attention being placed on him by one of the opposite sex.

"Now tell me what's up with your arm and who the heck you are. I've never seen you among any of Ike's men, and trust me, I know them all _very well_."

The tone in her voice told Edward he didn't want to be associated with this woman either. Just the way she said 'very well' gave him shivers. Though, he was a little curious to see if they had been transported into another world, because he still hadn't ruled this situation out as a dream.

"I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist," he responded with a small smirk playing on his face. "Edward Elric. Doubt you've heard of me but I'm quite the hero in my country."

"Oooh a _hero_!" the woman said slyly. "Now lemmie ask you a question, Edward Elric. What's your country and what's an alchemist?"


	6. A Little More Hope

The days that Alphonse spent in captivity had increased, along with his physical appearance and overall health. The time spent in the Gate certainly didn't do his body any favors but lucky for him he was gaining weight fast. He felt a lot better, too, even if he still couldn't walk without some sort of support. He'd get there soon. 'Three days' was the time that he had set in his head. The sooner he could walk, the sooner he could get out of this place and look for Ed.

The soldiers, in the meanwhile, hadn't a clue what to do with the younger Elric. They had been ordered not to kill him unless ordered differently from Kayachey himself. With no more specific details, they could only do what they felt was right. Naturally they fed him a little more than they would've been told, due to how starved he looked. Some of the soldiers moved him to a bigger, less dark, and ten times as less damp cell. They offered him a haircut as well, but the best they could do with their swords and knives was get it just below his ears. They had given him some clothes, too.

Alphonse had _really_ gained their favors.

He hadn't tried to escape once—even though he had already shown (by transmuting his shackles off) that he was capable of the same things his brother was. Any one charged with watching him would even announce at dinner time how pleasant he was to talk to. Of course, no one was sure whether this was normal-Alphonse behavior or if the young man was trying to kiss up to them.

Not that it mattered much, because in a few days' time, the fort was raided.

The men came in the night. They were wearing gleaming white armor with green trim. With all the rumors circulating around the Daein encampments, the soldiers stationed at the fort knew the instant they saw the small group heading towards them that they were screwed.

It was chaos when this fact had been passed throughout all the halls of the building. Men were running around, grasping at anything remotely resembling a weapon. They told the prisoners not to get their hopes up. They ran into each other in the halls.

"Oh shit!"

"Goddess! We're doomed!"

"Calm down, men! As long as they don't have those blue-haired siblings, we'll be fine! Pull yourselves together!"

"I've got a wife and two kids... I can't die here—not yet!"

"Goddammit I said calm down!"

"Shit, shit, shit this isn't good..."

One of those terror-struck soldiers had run past Al's cell, who couldn't resist asking what was happening.

"Excuse me, sir?" he started, walking up to the bars of his cell. "What's going on?"

"We're under attack!" was all the man could shout before rushing off to make sure every one was up and aware of the situation.

Alphonse couldn't help but smile. Just one of the few things he had been biding out for but didn't think possible. The only thing that could make this event more enjoyable was if his brother was a part of the attackers. He decided—instead of breaking out of his cell and seeing what was going on—to wait patiently in his cell. Besides, it would be hard to get around in a battle if he had to cling to the walls or find something to lean on.

So there he sat. Waiting. He felt rather smug at this moment. Something told him that everything would work out fine and that his brother would rescue him and they'd get back to Resembool. However, he started loosing faith as the sounds of war reached his ears.

Screams, metal clashing, cries of pain and commands being barked out didn't do anything but unnerve him.

_No,_ he thought, taking a deep breath in and out, _it'll be fine. Just... Don't think of that commotion. Think of everything good that's happened._ He took another breath in—this time more shaky.

First off, he had his body back. And even if he couldn't find anything better than that, that definitely counted for a lot of something. Alphonse laughed a little to himself as he tried to think of what each person he knew would say and do when they saw him. Eventually, thoughts of Colonel Mustang spilling his coffee onto his uniform and Winry crying—tears of joy, of course—overshadowed and drowned out those horrible sounds of death that were now only a hallway away.

Just as he had gotten to the train of thoughts wondering how Mei Chang would respond, a stiff silence broke through the shouting.

He could make out a voice.

"Alright, men," a soft, male voice spoke, "spread out. Look for prisoners, open any locked chests, you know the drill." There was a pause, probably for giving the soldiers time to salute, then, "Move out!" This command was followed by several footsteps fading out and different voices shouting different things that Alphonse couldn't quite make out.

He could make out the several footsteps coming in his direction, and a woman's voice. "Get every one out of here as quickly as possible," she spoke sternly. "We have no idea if there are any other Daein soldiers lurking here and I, personally, don't want to wait around for them to kill us."

The group was closer now. Al couldn't be sure but it sounded like no more than three people, but he figured that they had a lot more men waiting for them elsewhere.

The three turned the corner and brought them into plain sigh for Alphonse.

Two of them appeared to be regular soldiers, wearing white and green. They both carried lances that were bloodied. He shuddered to think of how the blood had gotten there. The third one with them was a woman. She was rather good looking, tall and a little curvy. Her long, blue hair fell down to her thighs and she was wearing a long white dress. She had a bit of blood on her face and the sword she was carrying.

She noticed Alphonse in his cage almost instantly and rushed over to it. "I've got this one, check to see if there are any more."

"Yes ma'am," the soldiers replied softly, though their voices were filled with the utmost respect.

The woman walked over to Alphonse's cage and produced a small key from a pack resting on her right thigh. "Don't worry, we're getting you out."

"Th-thank you," Al replied slowly, not sure of how he was supposed to respond.

"It's no problem, really," she replied with a smile. The lock clicked and she opened the door. "It's the least I can do to help out a fellow Crimean." The woman stepped inside, noting that he wasn't chained to the wall. Instead, there was a small metal figure of a horse chained to the wall.

"Crimean...?" Alphonse asked. He could tell he was about to learn what was going on, finally. He tried to stand but stumbled, almost falling on his face. The woman caught him and helped him steady himself.

"Are you alright?" she asked, instead of answering his question. "You look like you'll fall over."

Alphonse smiled in response. "I still can't believe my muscles atrophied this much... I'm sorry, I'll be fine." He paused and the woman gave a sigh of relief. "But what you called me... What's a Crimean?"

"What's a Crimean? That's a silly question!" she laughed. "Did you lose your memory or something?"

"No, I'm fine. My name's Alphonse Elric, I'm fifteen years old, my brother's been missing for about three weeks now... It's all there."

The woman blinked. She didn't say anything until she had led Alphonse out of the cell and leaned him against a wall, waiting for the two soldiers to return shortly. "So how can you not know of Crimea? It's not that small of a country. And with the war, you think that you'd hear rumors..."

"Crimea's a country..." Al repeated, going over the little information he had in his head. "War... Does that mean that... 'Day-in' is a country too?" He was starting to understand what was going on here, if only a little.

"You're pretty strange. Every one in Tellius knows about Daein occupying Crimea." The woman furrowed her brow and crossed her arms against her chest. "You must not be from Tellius then." She had brought up the thought that he wasn't from this continent but that was impossible. The Dark God had flooded all the other continents and Tellius was the only one left. So how could that be possible?

"No, I'm not..." he replied, furrowing his brow as well. "I'm from Amestris..." Alphonse paused for a moment. "Where is Tellius on a map... Like is it any where near Drachma, Aerugo, Creta or Xing?"

"Drachma, Aerugo, Creta or Xing?" this time it was the woman repeating. "I've never heard of those places before..." She was about to add something else, but the two soldiers came back and interrupted her.

"Lady Lucia!" they started at the same time. "The other cells are empty."

"Good work men. We better start heading out before daybreak," Lucia replied. She turned to Alphonse and gave her a warm look with her liquid blue eyes. "You're coming with us, Alphonse. I hope you don't have a problem with that."

Alphonse chuckled a little bit. "I'd probably get lost or end up falling over and mooching off of strangers. I suppose it's for the best. I'm also really curious about this place."

"And I'm pretty curious myself to see what you're talking about. We'll have to have a discussion on this after we get back to the castle."

Al started peeling himself off the wall, but Lucia rushed over to him and helped him stand. He felt a little awkward leaning on a girl for support but was glad for the help nonetheless. The two, along with the soldiers, made their way through the halls and out of the fort. Lucia handed Alphonse over to one of the soldiers before running over to a man with cyan colored hair that was talking to another soldier.

"Geoffrey!" Lucia called out to him, interrupted the soldier mid-sentence. She looked at the soldier. "Sorry for interrupting..." she added under her breath.

"What is it, Lucia?" he asked calmly.

"I need to ask you a favor. We found a prisoner," she paused and Geoffrey nodded. "But he's not from Crimea. He says he's not even from Tellius!"

"How is that-"

Lucia cut him off. "He's hurt and can't walk without some sort of support. I normally wouldn't ask something of my younger brother like this but will you let him ride with you on your horse?"

* * *

That evening, Ike went back to the fort. Every one had set up camp in and behind it and was celebrating their victory. Ike was a little curious to make sure that Edward had gotten away safely and he was sure that some one was missing from their group. Though, he couldn't quite put a finger on it...

He walked in the fort slowly, his boots creating a creepy break in the silence of the fort. Far off, he could hear people laughing and talking, and it even seemed like some one had brought out a musical instrument. He soon reached the place he remembered leaving Ed. The only thing different about it was the snow.

The fort had no ceiling so snow was easily built up around it. Usually it clung to the walls and didn't dare go towards the center of the floor. However, part of the wall had no snow on it and the snow on the ground near it had foot prints leading up to—and getting cut off by—the wall.

It was safe to say that it confounded Ike to no end.

Even after he had decided to leave it be and wandered back to camp, he kept wondering how it was possible. When he got back, he went to his go-to man for answers; Soren.

"Hey Soren?" he started, sitting down next to him on a log that was used as a bench.

Soren looked up to him after staring at the campfire. "What is it Ike?"

"Is is possible to some how make a wall disappear and then reappear?" Ike paused. Soren stared at him with a skeptical look on his face. "I mean, like with magic or something?"

"I don't think I've ever heard of something that crazy," Soren replied plainly.

The two sat in silence for a moment, watching the flames on the bonfire dance.

"Well," Soren started again, turning to the sky. "I think I had read in an ancient book some where about some sort of science..." He glanced at Ike, who was looking at him with the wide eyes of a child. "Alchemy... I think it was called. The art of breaking down a material and changing it into something anew. I suppose, theoretically speaking, it could do something like that."

Ike looked a little excited, despite not knowing anything about science or magic.

"However, it required complex transmutation circles and every scholar that had studied it before ruled it as an impossible science and a failed subject to research... That may be why you've never heard of it."

"But, is it still possible?" Ike asked.

Soren paused again. "I don't believe so. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Ike lied. The general turned his gaze back to the fire. Soren followed suit.

_That doesn't sound like a likely story,_ Soren thought._ He must know something about it... If we could find someone who can perform alchemy we'd be able to win this war without a problem... What is Ike hiding?_

* * *

"Why the hell won't you leave me alone?"

"I told you, because you're cute."

"That's not a good enough reason!"

"Well, how about the reason that we couldn't possibly be more _lost_, and if I were to go back I'd get eaten by bears?"

Edward took a moment to think about his next retort. "I'd rather you'd get eaten by bears."

"You're so rude! You haven't even told me what an alchemist is or where you're from!" the woman responded. Though in actuality, she could've cared less. Mysterious men were sexier than men whom she knew everything about.

He scoffed. "Says the lady who has been following me around for the past five hours. I still don't know your name!"

She looked offended, but realized he was right. Not that she'd admit it, so she caved.

"Call me Aimee. That's A-I-M-E-E." This got her thinking. _Aimee Elric. _Sounded good in her mind. It was the first time she had been able to put names together like that. She still didn't know Ike's last name.

Edward stopped for a moment. The two had been walking—far too long from what Ed could reason—and it was now that he thought of making a camp. "Alright Aimee, if you want to be useful how about shutting the hell up and leaving me alone while I make a fire?"

Aimee huffed. "How about _you_ tell _me_ what an alchemist is first?"

The alchemist stayed quiet for a moment as he looked around the snowy area for some wood. He found a few sticks and one that was suitable enough to call a small log before gaining a satisfied look on his face. After that, he grabbed two rocks.

"Not a bad find for the first try," he mumbled to himself. Aimee looked at him like he was crazy as he set the rocks on the ground and clapped his hands.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a pout.

"I'm showing you what an alchemist does—performing alchemy—by transmuting these two rocks into ones that would make a spark."

Aimee just looked at him like he was an idiot. Ed pressed his hands to the stones and there was a small light, and something that looked like lightning danced around the rocks until he lifted his hands away. Aimee's expression grew wide.

"What sort of magic was that?" _More importantly,_ she added in her head, _can I sell it?_

Ed moaned. "Why does every one think it's magic? Magic doesn't exist! Are you all stupid?"

"If magic doesn't exist then how come I can sell it at a shop?" Aimee questioned, taking a condescending tone.

"You can't," Edward replied simply. "_Because it doesn't exist._" He started rubbing the rocks together, which in turn created a spark. He quickly had a fire lit and thought how easier it would be if that Colonel Bastard were here.

Aimee made a sort of _psssh_ sound that told Edward she didn't really care. "That's one question... Sorta. I want a better answer later. Now where are you from."

"Amestris," Ed answered quickly.

"Never heard of it," Aimee replied, taking a seat on a nearby rock.

Edward sighed melodramatically. "We're never going to get any where at this rate."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to every one for favoriting/alerting/reviewing my story! I really appreciate it! Any way, I hope I can get some more chapters out quickly. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of Alphonse in recent chapters so I hope you don't mind. I'd appreciate any one saying if they prefer different chapters for different people or for me to continue this way. Any way, thanks again!**


	7. Meanwhile, In Amestris

Colonel Roy Mustang ran a hand through his black hair. He sighed and stared at the pile of paperwork sitting and collecting dust on his desk. He regarded these with inattentive eyes, lined with thick dark circles. When was the last time he had gotten sleep? After so many late nights spent in his office, he wouldn't know.

There was a knock on his office door and he once again eyed the paperwork angrily. "Come in," he said, but he yawned halfway through. A blonde haired woman let herself in and shut the door behind her. She cradled a clipboard in her arm and smiled a melancholy smile as she walked towards the Colonel's desk.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye," Roy whined, "the absolute _last_ thing I want is more paperwork."

"I apologize sir, but you're well aware of the situation at hand," she said, eyes shut, as she placed yet another stack of paperwork on the desk.

"Don't remind me," he moaned. "That damn kid... What does he think he's pulling?"

Riza considered how she'd answer his question for a moment before she said, "No offense sir, but he's probably enjoying any misery he's causing you."

Roy smirked a bit. "Then he doesn't have a clue what will happen when he turns up, does he?"

The Lieutenant sighed.

* * *

It had almost been two weeks now that Roy had received that phone call. Just like every day, he was sitting back, relaxing, and trying to forget about the annoying pile of papers on his desk.

The phone had rang, and he was pulled out of his dreamy trance of miniskirts and his assistant. He stared at it and picked it up after the third ring.

He sighed. "Hello?"

"Sir, there's a call coming in from a public line. A girl is on the other line. She's crying and she asked for you..." the receptionist droned on as if she was expecting this sort of thing.

Roy furrowed his brow. He _never_ gave his work number to his dates, and even if he had, the last woman he gone out with dumped him a week ago. Why would any woman be calling him? He paused, quickly going over options. "Patch her through," he said decisively.

The receptionist sighed and Roy could practically feel her glaring at him through the phone. "Yes sir."

"Eastern Command. Colonel Roy Mustang speaking," he said mechanically.

Sure enough, he was answered with a sniffle. Some one trying to calm themselves down. It took her a moment before she spoke. "Y-yes... I'm Winry Rockbell... Edward Elric's mechanic? You... He's under your command, isn't he?"

Of course. Roy should've known that the Fullmetal Alchemist was involved. "Yes," he responded. There was a moment of silence on the phone, and he could hear Winry sobbing quietly. "Is something the matter?"

Another small pause. "No, no," she lied. "I was just wondering if you would know where he was right now."

Roy sighed. "I'm sorry to tell you that I don't."

"Oh..."

"However, he did tell me that he was taking a week off for his auto-mail to get 'fixed'. He said he was going back to Resembool. That's all I know, though. I'm assuming he stayed with you?"

"Mm. He did but..." She stopped speaking for a moment, and Roy gave her the time she wanted. Winry was unsure whether she should tell the Colonel what had happened, but felt she had to. "They told me... They told me that they were going to get they're bodies back."

Roy's eyes widened.

"I waited upstairs for them while they set everything up in the basement... But... After awhile I... I couldn't stand waiting any more. When I got down there, they... They..."

Roy already knew where she was going with this. They had disappeared. She broke off, unable to continue talking without crying. The Colonel sighed.

"Calm down, Miss Rockbell," he said smoothly. "I promise to do everything in my power to get the Elrics back." That statement was only a half truth, but he hoped it would get her to calm down. "Just leave it to me, alright?"

Winry stayed quiet. Roy sighed.

"Besides, they're gonna turn up _eventually._ Have they ever let themselves get killed before?"

"No..."

"Then why would they do it now? Especially since they've got a friend waiting for them."

There was moment of silence. "Thank you, Colonel Mustang," Winry said quietly before hanging up the phone.

* * *

"The worst part is," Roy told Riza, "is that I just know he's gonna show up acting as if nothing happened and expect me to pay for some huge bill he some how got."

Hawkeye smiled a little. "Yes sir." She knew he knew Edward well, possibly better than he knew himself. But there was a small feeling she got that told her this problem wouldn't disappear so quickly. After a brief silence, she said, "You're tired. You should get some sleep."

"That sounds like a _great_ idea," Mustang agreed. He stood up and stretched.

"I meant, sir," Riza stopped him, "_after_ you finished your paperwork."

* * *

**A/N: I apologize for the short chapter, but I've been wanting to do a chapter like this since I started. Also, I'm still thinking up how to carry it on from this point to the next so think of this as a bonus story. Any way, thanks for reading as always!**


	8. Second Guesses

How long had Edward and Aimee been sitting in silence? Neither of them seemed to care much.

Ed had made a fire, trapped a rabbit (thankfully it didn't take long), and demonstrated alchemy to Aimee by transmuting a carved wooden chair out of a nearby log. Begrudgingly, he had shared the rabbit with her and despite her not looking so keen on eating a rabbit, she decided it wasn't much different than eating a cow or a horse and ate.

They had sat in silence for at least five minutes now and that was five minutes too long for the shop girl.

"So where'd you learn how to catch rabbits?"

"Caught 'em as a kid," Ed stated between mouthfuls, trying to keep the conversation simple so she'd give up.

"Just for fun?"

"Nope. Only caught 'em cause we had to. At least this time, I could use alchemy."

Aimee had nothing left to say and had finished eating, so decided to stare at the fire. As always, her mind drifted to strange fantasies involving Ike. She shook her head to clear the fantasies, despite how much she was enjoying them. "So what sort of magic is alchemy?" she asked, trying to strike up a conversation. "I mean, where does it stand in the Magic Trinity?"

"Magic Trinity?" Edward asked, eyebrow raised. "First off, it's not magic and if it's a trinity, it already has three components. What makes you think there'd be a fourth?"

"Well, light magic is in the trinity despite it being the fourth."

Edward sighed. "Alchemy. Is. Not. A. Magic." This must've been the fifth time he explained this to the woman but she didn't seem to understand.

"Then what is it?"

"It's a _science_. It has _laws _and _principles_. You can't just say some silly words to make alchemy happen. You gotta know what you're working with, then you gotta know the correct runes for a circle and..." He stopped when Aimee yawned and looked away. She wasn't paying attention.

Aimee's attention span finally settled and she remembered where Edward had said he was from. "So is Amestris by Begnion?"

Ed glared at her and furrowed his brow. He had never heard of Begnion and the way she was using it told him that it wasn't the type of country you didn't just 'not hear of'. "It's between Creta, Drachma, Aerugo and Xing." But still, he was pretty confident that she would've heard of one of those countries.

"And where are those in relation to Tellius?" she asked.

"Depends on where Tellius is." His voice was a little despondent now. He had _no_ idea how they'd get back to Amestris now.

Aimee scoffed and smiled. This time, she felt like the smarter one. "It's only the only continent in existence!"

Edward slapped his forehead with his flesh hand and ran it down his face. "We're back where we started. I'm going to say 'then how come I've never heard of it?' and you're gonna laugh and say I'm stupid and we'll just keep doing this until we're too tired to argue."

Aimee sighed. He was right.

The two sat in silence for about ten more minutes. Aimee staring at Edward's face and thinking that if she gave him a few more years he'd almost be as good looking as Ike, while Ed was staring at the fire thinking about Colonel Mustang, then Amestris, then Winry. Edward sighed.

"We're gonna have to stay here for the night."

Aimee nodded, then did a double-take. "You're saying I'm gonna have to sleep on the _ground_?"

"I didn't say that, but yeah, you're gonna have to." Edward tried to hide the smirk he felt creeping on his face. No matter who the person, pissing people off was just enjoyable to him.

"Can't you make me a bed or something? You made that chair!"

He stopped hiding the smirk. "Yeah sure but nothing soft. It'll just be like sleeping on a slightly elevated ground."

Aimee moaned and Ed had to resist laughing.

* * *

"Ike...?"

"Princess Elincia. You're still up?"

"Mm," she replied with a nod as she let herself into Ike's tent. He was hunched over a parchment, with a quill pen in hand. He looked like he was happier to have a distraction than to see her. She looked down at it, and then questioning look in her eye told Ike she wanted to know what he was doing.

He smiled. "Soren told me he'd stop giving me battle strategies if I couldn't pick a good route to get to the capital," he explained. "I don't see the big deal but he assured me that I'm not allowed to just draw a straight line and call it a day. He wanted me to think up a strategy for if we were ambushed too, but I prefer sending men out and seeing how it pans out for itself."

"Soren's meticulous, isn't he?" The Princess matched his smile and sat down next to him.

Ike rolled his eyes. "You don't know the half of it." There was a small pause, in which the two just looked into the other's eyes. "Any way, what can I help you with, Princess?"

Elincia blushed a little bit. "I just wanted to ask you to stop calling me Princess..."

"But you're-"

"I know, it's just odd. I haven't been called Princess much, and even if I am heir to the throne it doesn't feel right for you to be saying it..." Elincia blushed while she spoke, and turned away after she finished.

"I understand, Elincia," Ike responded. He felt a lot more at ease when he didn't have to remind himself she was royalty and voice it. "I feel a lot more comfortable just calling you 'Elincia'. Titles sound too formal."

Elincia giggled a little bit. "They do, don't they?" She smiled at him, a bonafide smile this time, not like the small half-smiles she had been giving earlier. "I should get to sleep... It's getting late."

"You could... Stay if you want. I'm probably gonna be up until dawn with this, any way..." He paused, looked back at the parchment and turned back to the green-haired princess. "Nevermind, you should sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yes... Good night, Ike."

* * *

Lucia, Geoffrey, Alphonse, and a few other soldiers were gathered around a table. Alphonse had just told them everything—how he was from Amestris, what alchemy was, and how during a transmutation they had somehow ended up in this world. He did leave out the part about breaking the biggest taboo known to alchemists and the price him and his brother had paid. After he had said that, every one had grown silent. Lucia and Geoffrey looked deep in thought, making Alphonse feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Alphonse," Geoffrey started, breaking the silence. "Can you demonstrate it for us?"

Al nodded. "Of course."

"If it is what you say it is, then we could possibly have the upper hand against Daein," Geoffrey added.

The alchemist wasn't sure what he was talking about, but nodded again. "However," Al said, "the first law of alchemy is called Equivalent Exchange. You can only get something of equal value to what you give... So first I'd like you to tell me about... Was it Crimea and Daein?"

"That's right." It was Lucia's turn to speak. "There's really not that much to tell, really. Both countries have always had shaky relations but one day Daein just invaded Crimea, completely randomly. We can only guess it was about Crimea's alliance with the laguz—whom Daein hate with a passion. Crimea didn't stand a chance and we soldiers were the personal retainers of the surviving heir. We became separated though and now we can only launch small raids on some of Daein's occupation camps. I'm not even sure if the princess is all right..." The light in Lucia's eyes faded a little bit when she stopped, and there was another brief moment of silence.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up a touchy subject..."

"It's alright, Alphonse," Lucia responded with a slight smile. "Any way, that's really all there is to it."

"I do have one question, though. What's a laguz?"

Geoffrey shut his eyes. He was the one to answer. "A laguz is a person that can turn into a great beast. A lot of beorc—also called humans—are prejudiced towards them. Crimea was the first country to attempt to make amends, but I've heard of Begnion outlawing their use as slaves."

Alphonse stayed quiet.

"Any way," Geoffrey said, "will you show us some alchemy?"

Alphonse nodded, stood up and removed himself from the table. They were currently in an old castle untouched by Daein troops, so he had a lot of stone to work with. The only problem was, what could he make? He stumbled to a little bit away from the table and knelt on the ground so he wouldn't have a chance of falling over. Briefly, he turned to the soldiers at the table who were staring at him with expectant eyes. He clapped his hands together and pressed them to the floor. There was a flash of bright light and blue lightning started to appear.

Part of the rock floor rose into a sort of blob, which appeared to be dancing as it shifted into different shapes. After a moment, Al lifted his hands from the ground and stepped to the side to show the soldiers at the table what he did—create a life sized model of a kitten.

Every one at the table was impressed, and they looked to each other with smiles on their faces and awe being shown in their eyes. Al blushed and scratched the back of his head. He knew that they had never seen or heard of alchemy before, but it wasn't anything special for him to make something small out of it.

Eventually they settled down, and Geoffrey was the first to speak directly to Alphonse. "I don't mean to be offensive, but is that all it can do?"

Al smiled. "I was hoping you would ask that. Do you mind if I use that armor in the corner?"

"Not at all."

Alphonse turned to face the armor and clapped his hands. He pressed them, once more, to the ground. This time, the blue lightning flashing in a straight line from him to the armor and two spikes shot out of the ground, slamming into and piercing the armor's chest plate.

The soldiers seemed even more impressed. Al was a little embarrassed from all this attention, but he had to admit, it felt good. Normally it was Edward that every one was so impressed with. Normally it was Edward that got all the attention and praise. Al was usually the one just standing to the side, who had helped a little bit but not enough to get any recognition. It was nice to have a change in roles.

"That's amazing... Long distance and close range... It pierced right through the armor!" a soldier exclaimed.

"We'd never lose with something like that on our side!" another said. "What an amazing mage!"

"You mean alchemist," Lucia corrected with a laugh.

"Alphonse," Geoffrey started. Every one around him grew quiet. "I'm not asking you to murder anything, but would you at least help us on the defense against any Daeins?"

Al considered this for a moment. At first he wasn't sure if Geoffrey saw through him to see that he didn't want to cause any one—evil or not—any harm, but he realized that the knight could see he was just a kid.

He found his answer quickly. "I was hoping that I could somehow look for my brother," Alphonse admitted. "If I can find him, there may be some way we could get back home..."

Lucia chuckled a little bit. "You're not going any where like that—you can barely walk! I'm sure we can help you look though. If you came here together, he couldn't have gone too far, right?"

"Well, those men said something about forcing him to fight. I don't know which direction they went into, but some soldiers seemed happy about going back home."

Lucia pursed her lips. That would mean that there was need for troops in Daein. Another liberation army? "Don't worry," she said, her tone belying her thoughts, "I promise that we'll help you find him." She seemed pleased when Al returned her words with a smile. Then, she turned to a soldier next to her. "Go take him to one of the extra rooms. Make sure he has everything he needs."

"Yes ma'am," the soldier said, standing and giving a stiff salute before walking over to Alphonse.

"Thank you again, Lucia," Al said before being led away from the room. Lucia just smiled and waved as he left.

After she was sure he was out of earshot, she turned to her brother. "Geoffrey," she said, voice suddenly serious. "I'm not sure what to make of this."

"Are you sure we can trust him?" he asked. "His story sounds mad."

Lucia frowned. "I don't know. Would he have reason to lie? Even if he was lying, then why make up such an extravagant tale? Besides, you saw his alchemy. Would you call that a lie as well?"

"That could just be a new form of magic. Neither of us know anything about magic, so we'll have to wait to get Bastian to check it out. However, I still have my suspicions... You said he was the only prisoner there?"

"Mm."

"Then could it be possible that the Daein soldiers planted him there, hearing rumors of our group raiding other forts and camps, to infiltrate us and destroy us from the inside?" Geoffrey furrowed his brow. "I would feel so much better about this if Bastian were back..."

Lucia nodded. "If any one could tell whether Alphonse was lying or not, it would be him. But he's not here so we'll just have to take precautions on our own." She paused and turned to the remaining two soldiers. "You two, I want you to stand outside his door all night. Listen for his 'alchemy' and watch for any bright lights."

The soldiers nodded.

Geoffrey turned to them next. "I want one of you standing outside his window as well. If he can shift stones like _that, _it probably wouldn't be too hard for him to take down a wall. If he is a spy, then we can count on him trying to leave at some point."

"Yes sir." The soldiers nodded once more, but when they turned to each other it was plain to see on their faces neither wanted to spent the night outside.

Geoffrey and Lucia stared at them expectantly, and they realized they had their orders and weren't wanted any more. They left quickly and quietly.

"I know that he can't seem to walk on his own, Lucia," Geoffrey stated, "but as I said before, this could all be a ploy for us to give the enemy a good opportunity to attack and the last thing we can afford is our defenses to be compromised."

"I understand, Geoffrey," Lucia replied. "But there was something about me that told me he wasn't lying. Call it instinct or woman's intuition, but I don't understand why he would."

"I know. Yet, at the same time, I had a similar feeling that we weren't getting the whole story."

Lucia nodded, and the two stared at the tabletop for a few moments. They both had similar thoughts, but one of them wanted to believe Al's story checked out, while the other did not. Eventually they turned back to each other, and Geoffrey broke the silence. "It's late, sister. You should get some sleep. I'm going to turn in, myself, Bastian's supposed to be back soon and how will he react when he sees your pretty face lined with dark circles?"

"Very funny, Geoffrey," Lucia retorted with a playful smirk. "I would think it's my only chance to get him off of me."

Geoffrey smiled and stood up. "Either way, I'm not going to miss out on sleeping. Good night, Lucia."

"Good night." Geoffrey walked off and back to the room he used. Lucia sighed and ran a hand through her hair. _What am I supposed to do?_

* * *

**A/N: Next chapter will be more interesting and have more Ike and Ed, I promise. Thank you all for reading!**


	9. One Step Forward

The morning came too early for Edward, and woke him up from a rather pleasant dream in which the reality he was in turned out to be a dream itself and him and Alphonse were still on their quest to find the Philosopher's Stone. It felt as if it were real, and because he preferred to believe it instead of his reality, he did.

"Mornin' Al," he said groggily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Let's get going—this time it sounds like the real thing."

The "alright, Brother" he was expecting never came. Unsurprisingly, in fact, especially after the alchemist had gotten out of that drowsy, half-asleep state. Edward gave out a sigh when he was greeted with Aimee's whiny voice.

"Who the hell is Al?" she questioned, woken up from the sound of Ed's voice (not that she could complain).

Edward's face twisted into a curious expression before sighing heavily. "No one," he lied, standing up. "Let's go, the sooner I can get away from you the better."

"Likewise." Aimee stood up and looked to the sky. "You little brat," she mumbled.

"What was that?"

"No one," she said, in a taunting voice, imitating Ed. "Let's get going," she continued. Aimee glared at Ed.

"Jeez lady I know it's early in the morning but d'ya gotta be such a bitch?" Edward looked at her before starting to walk off. She followed after him.

She paused, considering his question, and stared straight ahead when she finally answered. "I don't like it when people lie to me, Eddy-poo. Tell me who you were talking about." Ed stopped dead in his tracks and Aimee responded by putting her hands on her hips and pouting.

When he looked at her, though, the daggers shooting from his eyes sent chills up her spine.

"_What did you just call me?_" he questioned through clenched teeth.

"What does it matter? Tell me who you were talking about!"

"What makes you think you can call me 'Eddy-poo'? We don't even know each other! Do you think I'm just some sort of kid that you can order around and give cute nicknames and dress up? It's Ed. Ward. Elric."

"Alright, jeez, Edward. Don't flip out now," she replied. There was a pause in which she thought Ed said something under his breath but they started walking any way. "Any way, who were you talking about? It's pretty obvious that this 'Al' person isn't 'no one'."

Edward glared at her from the corner of his eye but continued nonetheless. "You're right, he's not 'no one' but he's no one you need to know about. My problems are mine."

"Jeez, they call you the Fullmetal Alchemist for a reason—cracking into you is _impossible_." Aimee made a small little moan and glance at him sideways, hoping somehow he'd be hurt by this statement, cave, and tell her his life story and mysteriously tragic past. "Your skull's as thick as iron, too, isn't it?" she mumbled.

Ed chose to ignore the second statement, knowing that it was meant to piss him off more. "That's not the reason I'm called Fullmetal," he quipped, "and why the hell is knowing everything about me so important to you? I'm not asking you for _your_ life story."

Aimee scoffed. "Sweetie, you're a _man_," she started, "men don't care about nothing except their family and friends—girlfriends included. So is this 'Al' person family, a friend, or something more?" She added a sly tone to her last three words, and added a smirk. Whether this pissed him off or not (it did) she didn't care.

"Gross! He's my little brother, jeez!" Aimee seemed pretty satisfied with this answer and stayed quiet.

The two walked in silence once more, with Ed thinking of all the ways he could lose Aimee and Aimee thinking of all the ways she could get under his skin. Every now and then, she would glance over to Edward but he seemed too deep in thought and agitated. The look on his face just seemed to always make her forget whatever question she was going to bring up.

Soon enough, the silence was broken. "Do you hear that?" Edward asked. He had only asked because he wasn't sure if he had heard it either. If he had—it was the sounds of war he had only heard the day before, but if he hadn't he was going crazier than he thought.

"Hear what?" Aimee responded. She looked at him as if he were going crazy, and he didn't like that one bit. Edward just shook his head and motioned for them to keep walking. With every step they took, however, the sounds just got increasingly louder.

"Fighting," Aimee pointed out, "people are fighting." Ed could've easily inferred this himself, so he stayed quiet. "C'mon Edward, this could be the Crimean Army!"

Aimee took off, and Ed chased after her with a smirk. All he had to do was get her distracted by the fighting and then he could ditch her and run, then he'd be free to find wherever the hell his brother may be and get out of this crazy place.

"Look!" Aimee said rather loudly, pointing a finger at something stationed on the top of a steep hill.

"What the hell is that," Ed asked, tired of Aimee and all her complaints.

"Are you stupid? It's a ballista!" she shouted at him. Aimee stared him straight in the eye as Ed stared straight at the ballista which slowly turned towards them...

"Watch out!" Edward said instinctively. Quickly, he clapped his hands together and pressed them to the ground, transmuting a large wall that blocked the oncoming bolt the ballista had shot at them. "God pay attention, you're used to this war shit, you think you'd know to pay attention."

Aimee stared at him for a moment in a peculiar fashion. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly open.

"What?"

"You just saved my life, that's what!" Aimee shouted. She struck a dramatic pose for effect, placing one hand on her chest and the other on her forehead. "Without you, I would've been shot down by that bolt and embraced by the cold... embrace of death, no longer to ever breathe or see my darling Ike ever again! You are my hero, Edward Elric!" She hoped maybe if she played the helpless, doting female companion that Ed would take interest in her. She was sadly mistaken, however, and Edward had already run off without seeing her little act.

"Brat," she told herself.

* * *

"Ike!" Soren called to his best friend. He made another sweeping hand motion in the air, bringing another blade of wind crashing down and killing yet another Daein soldier. "Ike!"

The general responded after cutting down another soldier himself and ran back over to Soren, not taking his eye off the enemy. "What is it, Soren?" he shouted back over his shoulder while blocking an oncoming arrow with his sword.

"Look over there," was the reply, followed with a command shouted in the ancient tongue to take down a stray archer. "That wall wasn't there in the beginning of the battle!"

Ike looked to where Soren had motioned to. Sure enough, it was possible to see through the trees a large wall made of earth. It definitely looked out of place and like nothing any human could make. "What do you make of it, Soren?" Ike inquired while cutting down the last of the soldiers in the immediate area.

"Naesala was in this fight earlier," Soren said calmly and composed, as if he had practiced this speech several times. "He had a skill employed—excuse me for not being able to recall its name—that allowed him to control wind magic from a distance. True, it was a great feat especially for a laguz, however what if it were possible that his skill wasn't the only magic they had up their sleeves?"

"What are you saying, Soren?"

"I'm simply offering the notion that another crow could have perhaps-"

"Edwaaaard! What are you doing leaving me there? I could've been killed by another bolt! Some body guard you are!"

"Watch it, lady! I want to get rid of you, not protect you! There's a big difference!"

Two voices had interrupted Soren and it wasn't long before their bickering owners were in view.

"Oh crap it's Aimee-" Ike started.

"And that boy from before," Soren finished. "But that still doesn't answer the question of where that wall came from."

"Soren. This is not time for wondering how walls may or may not have randomly appeared. Hide me! If that woman catches me, we'll lose this battle for sure. I'm going to go run off and pretend like I don't exist, just _please_ cover me!" And Ike was gone before Soren could even object.

"Well maybe I wouldn't be so annoying if you were a better gentleman!"

"What the hell does that have to do with-"

"Wait a minute! Edward, this battle's between Crimea and Daein! That means my Ikey-poo is here!"

"Hey! Wait! You can't just go running off, you'll get yourself killed!"

"I'll be fine, Edward, they won't—Oh hello there, Soren."

"Hello Aimee," Soren sighed. He could almost already feel the migraine this woman would soon bring him. "May I ask why you're on the battlefield and not back with the caravan?"

"Hey! Lady! Aimee! You can't just run all over the place! Especially not when that place is potentially deadly!" Ed shouted, as soon as he caught up to Aimee.

"Oh? I thought you were getting rid of me, Eddy-poo. So I moved on. Now Soren, where's Ike?" Aimee pouted and placed her hands on her hips, glaring at Soren so she wouldn't have to stare at his feminine face any longer.

"Say Aimee," Soren started, calculating mind already fast at work. "Why don't you introduce me to your friend here?" He was talking slowly, not believing she would understand him easily.

Edward raised an eyebrow at Soren. Aimee just huffed and said, "Forget about it, I'll just find him myself." Then she walked off.

Soren extended a hand with every intent to get Ed to shake it. "I'm Soren, tactician to the Griel Mercenaries and currently, the Crimean Army."

Ed glared at Soren, suspecting him of something, and begrudgingly took his hand. "Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist." Even if Ed wanted to keep a low profile and he didn't trust Soren, he couldn't resist an opportunity to show off... Even if the words 'Fullmetal Alchemist' had no bearing on this world.

"Fullmetal Alchemist, eh?" Soren started again, immediately curious. "That's quite the impressive title. Why do they call you that, Mr. Elric?" Soren knew how to get information, and the best way was to flatter the person you want to talk. He'd done this so many times by now, Soren knew no such thing as 'dignity'. However, as much as Ed liked being flattered, he wasn't about to just tell Soren everything. He contemplated telling the mage or just walking off while he scrutinized Soren.

"Didn't I see you at the fort thing?" Ed asked, brow furrowed. "You seemed pretty okay with me playing dead."

"As I have stated, I'm the tactician for the Crimea army. A strategist, if you will. I only knew it best for both of us had I not talked to you."

Ed couldn't disagree with that. He glared at Soren, still not knowing how to deal with him.

"And," Soren started again. "I could help you find where your brother is, provided you give me information."

"I don't have to tell you anything," Ed replied harshly, biting off the words.

"That's correct. However, as I said before I'm a tactician... And I know this continent better than any one." Ed didn't reply, and the soldiers were breaking through and heading towards them. "Think about it," Soren said as he started conjuring a tornado above his head.

Edward once again didn't reply. He was thinking about this thoroughly. He wasn't about to tell Soren everything, but he did realize that some one from this place would know more about it. Some one with a flexible mind suited for strategies would be the perfect one to help him find Alphonse. He scowled and transmuted his arm back into a sword, ready to fight.

"What would you want to know?" he asked Soren.

"Just about our arm... And how you made that wall," Soren replied, crashing down the tornado onto an enemy soldier.

"Deal."

* * *

**A/N:: Sorry this one took so long to crank out! School started and you all know how that goes. It didn't help that I don't like this chapter at all... Hope you do. Thanks to any one and every one who has read/reviewed/alerted this story. :3**


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